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Koromanti #1 / Primpin Democracy Farewell to America Diaraby Shove the Pig’s Foot a Little Further Into The Fire Bani This Land is Your Land Gansan Tune for Tunde Zidomal This Must Be the Place Toumamasi

5:04 4:52 5:24 4:56 3:35 6:01 3:38 4:06 3:47 4:31 4:45 4:33

Produced by Mike Block Recorded at Dimension Sound Studios, Boston, MA: October 7-11, 2024 Engineered and Mastered by Dan Cardinal © 2025 • BSTC-0226 • brightshiny.ninja • All rights reserved.

Unauthorized replication & distribution prohibited

D J É K A DY Balla Kouyaté: Balafon and Vocals | Mike Block: Cello and Vocals Idrissa Kone: Percussion | Sekou Dembele: Djembe Luke Okerlund: Electric Guitar | Michael Rivard: Electric Bass and Sintir

As soon as Balla Kouyaté was old enough to sit up, his father placed a mallett in his hand. If their 800-year-old lineage of balafon players were a baobab tree, Balla would be its newest branch. The Kouyaté family are griots from the village of Niagassola on the Mali-Guinea border. In West African culture, griots are more than just eminent musicians — they are storytellers, soothsayers and peacemakers. They transmit their oral history like a long game of telephone across generations.

Djékady, Kouyaté's collaboration with Grammy-winning cellist Mike Block, puts Malian music into conversation with American folk music and contemporary styles, allowing new shoots to sprout from his family’s musical tree.

Kouyaté and Block met through their work with the Silkroad Ensemble. Kouyaté has a deep appreciation for the legacy and culture of his traditional music, but wants to make music without limitations or boundaries. He found a simpatico relationship with Block. “Balla’s joy and unbridled enthusiasm is infectious,” Block says, smiling. “There is so much trust between us,” offers Kouyaté. “We treat each other like brothers.” Djékady is a Mandinka phrase that means for ”coming together is good.“ Every song is a trust fall, with each musician leaping higher and higher knowing their bandmates will catch them every time. “I’m learning to read the tea leaves of West African rhythms,” Block laughs, “but on stage, we stretch way beyond what happens in rehearsal. It’s always wild and revelatory.”

LYRICS Tr. 3: Farewell to America

Tr. 7: This Land Is Your Land Lyrics

Poem "Farewell to America" published 1773:

This land is your land, and this land is my land From California to the New York Island From the Redwood Forest to the Gulf Stream Waters This land was made for you and me

I. Adieu, New-England's smiling meads, Adieu, th' flow'ry plain: I leave thine op'ning charms, O spring, And tempt the roaring main.

II. CHORUS (B Section) In vain for me the flow'rets rise, And boast their gaudy pride, While here beneath the northern skies I mourn for health deny'd.

III. Celestial maid of rosy hue, Oh let me feel thy reign!

I languish till thy face I view, Thy vanish'd joys regain.

IV. Susannah mourns, nor can I bear To see the crystal shower Or mark the tender falling tear At sad departure's hour;

As I went walking that ribbon of highway And I saw above me that endless skyway I saw below me that golden valley This land was made for you and me I roamed and rambled and I followed my footsteps To the sparkling sands of her diamond deserts All around me a voice was sounding This land was made for you and me And the sun was shining, as I went strolling And the wheat fields waving and the dust clouds rolling A voice come chanting as the fog was lifting This land was made for you and me This land is your land, and this land is my land From California to the New York Island From Redwood Forest to the Gulf Stream Waters This land was made for you and me

LYRICS Tr. 11: This Must Be The Place Lyrics Home is where I want to be Pick me up and turn me round I feel numb, born with a weak heart I guess I must be having fun

I can't tell one from another Did I find you, or you find me?

There was a time before we were born If someone asks, this where I'll be, where I'll be

The less we say about it the better Make it up as we go along Feet on the ground, head in the sky It's okay, I know nothing's wrong, nothing

Hi yo, we drift in and out Hi yo, sing into my mouth Out of all those kinds of people You got a face with a view I'm just an animal looking for a home, and Share the same space for a minute or two And you love me 'til my heart stops Love me 'til I'm dead Eyes that light up, eyes look through you Cover up the blank spots Hit me on the head

Hi yo, I got plenty of time Hi yo, you got light in your eyes And you're standing here beside me I note the passing of time Never for money, always for love Come on in, say goodnight Say goodnight Home is where I want to be But I guess I'm already there I come home, she lifted up her wings Im guessin this must be the place

And ah-ooh, ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh Ah-ooh, ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh Hey Ah-ooh, ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh Ah-ooh, ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh

© 2025 • BSTC-0226 • brightshiny.ninja • All rights reserved.

Unauthorized replication & distribution prohibited